Week 19

Property Industry:

• July month has seen a recovery after the destruction seen in the past several weeks.
• Registered properties for 2021 is 12% above 2019 number
• Bank conversions ratios is the highest for July since Jan 2021
• Average house price growth hold steady at the 8% improvement year on year

Local and International Markets:

• The rand is marginally stronger at R14.79/$, after closing weaker on Tuesday (R14.80/$*).
• EM currencies were mixed; the HUF (+0.9%), KRW (+0.4%) and RON (+0.2%) were amongst the biggest gainers; the CLP (-1.0%), PEN (-0.4%) and CNY (-0.4%) were amongst the biggest losers.
• Asian equity markets the Nikkei, Hang Seng and Shanghai Composite are down.
• The Fed’s FOMC is likely to emphasise patience on scaling back policy support later today.
• Fed Chair Jerome Powell commented in his recent congressional testimony that the threshold for easing support “is still a way off”.
• He noted that the US economy needs to show “substantial further progress” on inflation and employment as it recovers from the pandemic.
• The statement is likely to continue to reflect a positive outlook for growth as well as an acknowledgement of higher inflation.
• Powell is likely to reiterate that price gains largely reflect temporary factors.
• The Fed funds rate is expected to remain unchanged.
• Brent crude oil is up this week, and up by 44.4% year-to-date.
• The gold price is up this week, and down by 4.9% year-to-date.
• Brent crude oil is currently at $74.75/bbl; ($74.48/bbl*).
• Gold is at $1804/oz ($1800/oz*).
• A CDS 206bps*, higher than Brazil 176bps* and lower than Turkey 388bps*.
• Yields: US 10yr at 1.24%*, German bund at -0.441%* and SA 10-year generic at 9.31%*, SA’s R186 at 7.30%*.

Covid19 Update:

• Covid-19 global update: cases have surpassed 195.99 million, while the death toll has surpassed 4.19 million; recoveries are at 177.67 million.
• The US has 35.35 million cases, accounting for 18% of global cases; the US death toll is 627,351.
• India has 31.48 million cases and 422,054 deaths; Brazil has 19.74 million cases and 551,906 deaths.
• The US CDC has advised vaccinated people to wear masks indoors, warning that the Delta variant can still spread among the vaccinated.
• The UK is expected to approve tourism arrivals from the EU and US to England, provided that visitors have been fully vaccinated.
• Sydney’s month-long lockdown will be extended by at least another month.
• South Korea and Thailand have both reported record daily infections.
• Globally, over 3.93 billion vaccines have been administered across 180 countries at a rate of 5.4 million doses a day.
• Africa’s Covid-19 cases are at 6.59 million; fatalities are at 166,611.
• Morocco has 588,448 reported cases, Nigeria 171,728, Ghana 102,103, Kenya 198,935.
• SA has the 17th highest caseload, at 2.391 million; 7,773 new cases were reported yesterday.
• Active cases are at 140,341; Gauteng continues to lead the way, with 29,995 active cases, followed by the Western Cape with 29,819.
• Covid-19 deaths rose by 370 yesterday, to 70,388; 2.18 million people (or 91.2%) have recovered from the virus.
• 62 million tests have been conducted since 5 March 2020; 36,721 tests were conducted yesterday.
• The positivity rate is 21.2%.
• 854 million vaccines have been administered to date; 225,808 vaccines were administered yesterday.